Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 141 (MT) / Psalm 140 (LXX) is a Davidic evening-prayer — the classic OT text for Christian Vespers. Verse 2's 'let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice' is the foundation of Christian incense-at-Vespers liturgy and appears as a refrain in Orthodox and Catholic evening-offices.
Notable Variants
141:2 'let my prayer be counted as incense / evening sacrifice' as Vespers-liturgy foundation; Revelation 5:8, 8:3–4 ('the prayers of the saints' offered as incense) directly echo; 141:3 'set a guard over my mouth' as speech-ethics prayer.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 141 = LXX Ps 140. 10 verses. Classic evening-prayer psalm.
A psalm of David. LORD, I call to you — come quickly to me. Listen to my voice when I call to you.
'O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!' tracks MT.
Let my prayer stand as incense before you, my lifted hands as the evening offering.
'Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!' tracks MT. INCENSE-AS-PRAYER / EVENING-SACRIFICE foundation text for Christian Vespers. Revelation 5:8 ('golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints,' hai eisin hai proseuchai tōn hagiōn) and Revelation 8:3–4 directly echo — making this verse the scriptural-warrant for the incense-as-prayer theology of liturgical-tradition. Orthodox and Anglo-Catholic Vespers sing this verse as refrain while the priest censes the altar.
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD. Keep watch over the door of my lips.
'Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!' tracks MT. MOUTH-GUARD-DOOR-OF-LIPS. The speech-ethics prayer — the most-focused petition-for-word-discipline in the Psalter. James 1:26 ('if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue') extends.
Do not let my heart turn toward anything evil, to engage in wicked deeds with those who practice wrongdoing. Let me not feast on their delicacies.
'Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies' tracks MT. NOT-EAT-OF-THEIR-DELICACIES — table-fellowship-with-wicked avoidance.
Let the righteous strike me — it is faithful love. Let him correct me — it is oil for the head. Let my head not refuse it, for my prayer continues even against their evils.
'Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds' tracks MT. RIGHTEOUS-REBUKE-AS-OIL — disciplined-correction welcomed. Proverbs 27:5–6 ('better is open rebuke than hidden love … faithful are the wounds of a friend') parallels.
Their rulers will be thrown down along the rocky cliffs, and they will hear my words, for they are pleasant.
'When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant' tracks MT.
Like one who plows and splits open the earth, our bones lie scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
'As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol' tracks MT.
But my eyes are on you, LORD, my Lord. In you I take refuge. Do not pour out my life.
'But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!' tracks MT.
Guard me from the jaws of the trap they have set for me, and from the snares of those who do evil.
'Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!' tracks MT.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.
'Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely' tracks MT. SELF-INFLICTED-TRAP theology (cf. Ps 7:15–16, 9:15, 35:8).